In a future England, anyone who understands machines is persecuted as a witch, creating a society that has deliberately regressed to pre-industrial technology out of fear, testing whether hostility to technology can be a stable social equilibrium.
Models anti-science movements, technology-phobia, and Luddite dynamics. Relevant to vaccine resistance, GMO bans, and any society that rejects beneficial technology out of fear or ideology.
Domains: Governance and Political SystemsSocial Engineering and PsychologyEnergy and Physics
Scenario Types: Cautionary taleThought experiment / What-if
Outcomes: DystopianCautionary
Tags: anti-technologywitch-hunttechnological-regressionneo-luddism